Disclaimer: Characters belong to Marvel. Also, at one point Rogue quotes Tennyson...it'll make sense when you get there. Also, it should be noted that this takes place before my other fic, "You Can't Go Home Again".
Shadows
Pietro wasn't afraid of the dark...he was afraid of what may hide in the dark. For hours each night he lay awake, watching terrified into the blackness, waiting for what he knew must come. Every movement in the shadows made his heart lurch in horrible panic and he would sit up quickly, only to discover that his fear was unfounded. Then he would sink back slowly, staring unblinkingly at his whitewashed stucco ceiling, trying desperately to think about anything but the nameless fear. Finally, not long before dawn, a merciful sleep enveloped him, and he was at peace for a scant few hours before he had to get up and go to school, exhausted. Every night for as long as he could remember.
Well, almost.
***Flashback***
"Hey, welcome to the Brotherhood House, yo," called a small sandy-haired boy as he hopped out of the building.
Pietro didn't answer. He stood, uncharacteristically immobile, and gazed at the dilapidated old boarding house as the taxi cab that had brought him there drove away. His duffel bag sat by his feet until the other boy, eager to please, grabbed it and bounded back inside.
"I'll, like, put this in your room," the boy shouted as he went in. Silently, Pietro followed. By the time he was in the front hall, the boy had already jumped upstairs, deposited the bag somewhere, and was crouching by the stairs, along with two other boys, a girl, and a woman.
"Shut the door," the woman said. He did so. Now safe from prying eyes, she morphed from a thin brunette to a thin, blue-skinned redhead in white. "Welcome home, Pietro," Mystique said in her husky voice.
"Uhh, thanks," he replied, speaking for the first time since he arrived.
"Allow me to introduce you to your teammates." She waved a hand at one of the boys, hugely obese and sporting a blond mohawk. "This is Fred, otherwise known as Blob. He has super-human strength and is nearly invulnerable." In spite of the pronouncement of his impressive abilities, Fred managed to look uninterested, stupid, and slightly hungry all at once.
Mystique walked over and stood beside another boy, tall with brown eyes and shaggy hair. "Lance, a.k.a. Avalanche, who has the ability to create earth tremors." This one raised a chin and glared at Pietro suspiciously.
"Todd you've already met. He's...a Toad." Todd scratched his head and focused his attention on a fly that had buzzed around the room. His slimy tongue lashed out at it, but missed.
Finally, Mystique stopped by the girl. "And Rogue. She absorbs the powers and memories of whomever she touches." Rogue folded her arms and avoided any eye contact.
The morph then turned to the others. "Pietro, or Quicksilver. Super speed." She sighed irritably and continued, "I have work to do. Get to know each other." With that, she walked up the stairs and disappeared. A few seconds later a door slammed. Pietro turned back to his teammates, who were already leaving the hall. Lance stopped and stood in front of him.
"Mystique says you're supposed to be the team leader," he said angrily, poking a finger at Pietro's chest. "But I've been here longer, I'm stronger than you, and I'm smarter than you. Got it?" He scowled.
And I thought I was competitive, Pietro mused to himself. "Got it," he repeated coldly. Lance, trying to look menacing but not completely succeeding, walked out the front door. Yeah, right, the new Brotherhood member thought.
He walked upstairs to find his new room.
***
An uneventful day passed, Fred and Todd hanging out in front of the television, Rogue, Pietro, and Mystique in their respective rooms, Lance who the hell knows where. Dinner, to Pietro's chagrin, consisted of frozen dinners nuked in the microwave and eaten quickly in solitude. Then came the inevitable time when the house quieted, when everyone was asleep or just shutting up. Pietro climbed into his narrow, sheetless bed and proceeded with his nightly terror ritual. Hours passed. Then:
"Why're ya just lyin' there awake?"
Pietro sat up and peered out the open door. Rogue stood there in her nightshirt, looking at him questioningly. "Why are you looking in my room?" he retorted, hoping his inquiry was fairly oozing with irony.
"Why's your door open?" she shot back.
He didn't have a witty response to that one. So he leaned back, put his folded hands behind his head, and answered as nonchalantly, "It's just hard to get used to. I mean, I lived in foster homes, but they were all pretty nice, upper class. This place is...different."
Rogue leaned against the doorway and nodded. "Yeah, ah understand. Ah was a foster kid too, but my house was a lot better than this. It's not the same for them, though." She nodded in the direction of the other bedrooms. "This is as good as they've ever known." She paused. "But ah don't think that's why you're not sleepin'."
He frowned. "Why should you care?"
"Well, excuse me, rich boy! Sorry to rain on your happy-go-lucky solitude parade."
"Rich boy?! You just said you were from a nice home!"
"Ah said my home was better'n this. Ah never said ah was rich"
"Whatever." Silence. "You're right, though."
Rogue walked in, shut the door behind her, and sat down on the hardwood floor near his bed. "About being a rich boy?"
"No! About why I'm not asleep." Her sudden closeness made him nervous and slightly exited, despite his dim recollection of what her powers were. "Why...why'd you close the door?"
She shrugged. "Don't wanna wake up the others."
"Oh." He nodded, as if that was what he suspected all along.
"So care to tell me why ya can't sleep?"
He grimaced and crossed his arms across his chest, hugging himself. "It's embarrassing."
"Ah won't tell anyone else."
He sighed heavily, still staring at the ceiling. "I'm afraid."
"To tell me?"
"No! The reason I can't go to sleep is because I'm afraid."
"Oh." A pause. "Why?"
He closed his eyes. "The shadows. Things can hide in them."
"' I am half sick of shadows, said the Lady of Shalott,'" Rogue murmured, a smile creeping into her voice.
"Huh?"
"Nothin'. Ya don't need to be afraid, Pietro."
"I know that! I just am." He rolled over on his side and propped his head up on his hand, watching her. "What do you think of that?"
"It's weird," she answered. "Ah wonder why you're afraid of that."
"You got me. It's just always been this way."
Rogue cocked her head and stared into his eyes, silently thinking. Finally, she said, "Ya know, ah'm in the room next to yours."
"Seriously?" He really didn't get how that connected to the rest of the conversation, but he was too busy noticing how her eyes glittered in the dark to mention it.
"Yeah. My bed's even right next to yours, on the other side of the wall."
"Oh."
"Maybe...maybe it'll be easier for ya to forget 'bout the shadows if ya know ah'm there. If anything were to jump out at ya, you'd only have to holler for me to come help you."
He considered this. "That might actually help. Thanks."
"Good." She got up and brushed the dust off her bare legs. "Ah'm goin' back to sleep. Ah really just got up for some water." As she opened the door, she turned back and whispered, "Welcome to the Brotherhood, Pietro. Sorry ah didn't say that earlier."
"It's okay."
She nodded and left the room, softly closing the door behind her.
Pietro rolled over and pressed his ear to the wall that separated his bed from hers. After a few seconds he heard Rogue's door open and close, and her bedsprings squeak as she climbed in. Stillness. Then, loudly and clearly, she knocked on the wall. He grinned and knocked back. Without warning he fell into the most peaceful sleep he'd had in years.
***
The weeks passed fast and Pietro adjusted to life in Bayville and the Brotherhood House. He fell into an uneasy companionship with Todd, Fred, and even Lance. But it was Rogue who was his real friend, his best friend, though he never described it as such. They sat together after school and talked for hours. Every time one of them left the other's room, Fred snorted and leered, Todd laughed knowingly (or so he thought), Lance raised an eyebrow, or Mystique glared disapprovingly. There was always someone there, watching and waiting, when they hung out together. But at night, no one else knew when suddenly one would knock on the adjoining wall. The other always knocked back without fail, becoming a trust they never spoke of again. Pietro slept soundly every night.
Then Rogue joined the X-Men. The late night knocking stopped.
The entire Brotherhood felt betrayed, and for a long time the main source of conversation between them was the abandonment. Pietro joined in on the Rogue-bashing just as vigorously as the others, but whereas the others were angry, he was just hurt. The night terror returned with a vengeance.
***End Flashback***
One morning, just before dawn, the dream came, and all at once everything was explained.
A night so long ago, serene and warm. Pietro lay on a straw mattress under the stars, surrounded by other people. He couldn't see their faces, but he knew them. He'd awakened and was patiently awaiting sleep to wash over him again like a gentle wave, cool and mysterious. He was not frightened, despite being so young, not even four years old. Then the shadows shifted and he was grabbed from his pallet and lifted into the air, higher than high, and he screamed piercingly. His adopted family, one of the last small bands of gypsies, started up and cried out to him in a language he recognized but no longer remembered. His twin sister waved her arms and shrieked; he couldn't even recall her name. It was no use. He clung to the cold, taciturn abductor and sobbed.
Pietro woke up with a start. As the tears rolled down his cheeks, he stared up at the ceiling until his alarm clock rang.
***
"Wait for me. I just have to go to my locker," Pietro called to the rest of the Brotherhood, which now included Tabitha, as they ran out the exit after school. In a flash he spun the combination and opened it, taking out his history book and putting away the novel he was supposed to be reading in English.
"Why do ya hang out with them? You're smarter'n they are."
He turned around; Rogue stood in front of him, questioningly. Nodding in the direction of Kitty and Evan as they left the hall, he retorted:
"Why do you hang out with them? You're wiser than they are."
A small smile ghosted her face. Then Scott Summers walked down the hall. Quickly, she turned away to face him, as if she weren't just speaking with the enemy. Scott was searching for someone and, noticing Rogue, smiled and raised his hand to her in a wave. Then he found the flash of red hair out in the quad and raced out the door after Jean.
Rogue's face fell so fast that it made Pietro feel worse than when she'd been staring after the X-Geek. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Aren't you sick of shadows, Rogue?" he said softly into her ear.
She turned back to him. His brow was furrowed and there were rings under his sad eyes, signaling his lack of proper sleep. All of a sudden a sort of warmth for him flooded her body.
"Yeah. Ah really am." She smiled again, wider, and reached up to touch his hand that still rested on her shoulder. He grinned back.
Then Tabitha loomed in the doorway of the school entrance. She frowned at the pair, who were still gazing at each other in silence.
"Silver, Lance said to hurry the hell up," she shouted icily.
Startled, they jumped apart. Pietro looked at Rogue, shrugged, and said, "He's my ride. I've got to go."
She nodded. "See ya." He sped out the door ahead of Tabitha, who glowered at the other girl as she left.
Rogue watched him go.
***
That night Pietro stared into the darkness as always; learning the reason behind his fear had done nothing to lessen it. Then, clear as day, came the knock. It was on the wrong wall, the one that faced the outside of the house, but he'd have recognized it anywhere.
He crawled out of bed and knocked back. Looking out the window, he watched as Rogue climbed down from the rain gutter's down pipe and ran across the yard. She stopped, solemnly brought her gloved hand to her lips, and gestured towards him, not really blowing him the kiss, more like tossing it. Then she jumped the fence and was gone.
Pietro climbed back in bed and immediately fell into a peaceful sleep.
THE END
***
Author's Note: What do you think?? Should I continue writing fics?? Am I wasting my time?? Let me know!! I want at least 10 reviews before I post another story.
Shadows
Pietro wasn't afraid of the dark...he was afraid of what may hide in the dark. For hours each night he lay awake, watching terrified into the blackness, waiting for what he knew must come. Every movement in the shadows made his heart lurch in horrible panic and he would sit up quickly, only to discover that his fear was unfounded. Then he would sink back slowly, staring unblinkingly at his whitewashed stucco ceiling, trying desperately to think about anything but the nameless fear. Finally, not long before dawn, a merciful sleep enveloped him, and he was at peace for a scant few hours before he had to get up and go to school, exhausted. Every night for as long as he could remember.
Well, almost.
***Flashback***
"Hey, welcome to the Brotherhood House, yo," called a small sandy-haired boy as he hopped out of the building.
Pietro didn't answer. He stood, uncharacteristically immobile, and gazed at the dilapidated old boarding house as the taxi cab that had brought him there drove away. His duffel bag sat by his feet until the other boy, eager to please, grabbed it and bounded back inside.
"I'll, like, put this in your room," the boy shouted as he went in. Silently, Pietro followed. By the time he was in the front hall, the boy had already jumped upstairs, deposited the bag somewhere, and was crouching by the stairs, along with two other boys, a girl, and a woman.
"Shut the door," the woman said. He did so. Now safe from prying eyes, she morphed from a thin brunette to a thin, blue-skinned redhead in white. "Welcome home, Pietro," Mystique said in her husky voice.
"Uhh, thanks," he replied, speaking for the first time since he arrived.
"Allow me to introduce you to your teammates." She waved a hand at one of the boys, hugely obese and sporting a blond mohawk. "This is Fred, otherwise known as Blob. He has super-human strength and is nearly invulnerable." In spite of the pronouncement of his impressive abilities, Fred managed to look uninterested, stupid, and slightly hungry all at once.
Mystique walked over and stood beside another boy, tall with brown eyes and shaggy hair. "Lance, a.k.a. Avalanche, who has the ability to create earth tremors." This one raised a chin and glared at Pietro suspiciously.
"Todd you've already met. He's...a Toad." Todd scratched his head and focused his attention on a fly that had buzzed around the room. His slimy tongue lashed out at it, but missed.
Finally, Mystique stopped by the girl. "And Rogue. She absorbs the powers and memories of whomever she touches." Rogue folded her arms and avoided any eye contact.
The morph then turned to the others. "Pietro, or Quicksilver. Super speed." She sighed irritably and continued, "I have work to do. Get to know each other." With that, she walked up the stairs and disappeared. A few seconds later a door slammed. Pietro turned back to his teammates, who were already leaving the hall. Lance stopped and stood in front of him.
"Mystique says you're supposed to be the team leader," he said angrily, poking a finger at Pietro's chest. "But I've been here longer, I'm stronger than you, and I'm smarter than you. Got it?" He scowled.
And I thought I was competitive, Pietro mused to himself. "Got it," he repeated coldly. Lance, trying to look menacing but not completely succeeding, walked out the front door. Yeah, right, the new Brotherhood member thought.
He walked upstairs to find his new room.
***
An uneventful day passed, Fred and Todd hanging out in front of the television, Rogue, Pietro, and Mystique in their respective rooms, Lance who the hell knows where. Dinner, to Pietro's chagrin, consisted of frozen dinners nuked in the microwave and eaten quickly in solitude. Then came the inevitable time when the house quieted, when everyone was asleep or just shutting up. Pietro climbed into his narrow, sheetless bed and proceeded with his nightly terror ritual. Hours passed. Then:
"Why're ya just lyin' there awake?"
Pietro sat up and peered out the open door. Rogue stood there in her nightshirt, looking at him questioningly. "Why are you looking in my room?" he retorted, hoping his inquiry was fairly oozing with irony.
"Why's your door open?" she shot back.
He didn't have a witty response to that one. So he leaned back, put his folded hands behind his head, and answered as nonchalantly, "It's just hard to get used to. I mean, I lived in foster homes, but they were all pretty nice, upper class. This place is...different."
Rogue leaned against the doorway and nodded. "Yeah, ah understand. Ah was a foster kid too, but my house was a lot better than this. It's not the same for them, though." She nodded in the direction of the other bedrooms. "This is as good as they've ever known." She paused. "But ah don't think that's why you're not sleepin'."
He frowned. "Why should you care?"
"Well, excuse me, rich boy! Sorry to rain on your happy-go-lucky solitude parade."
"Rich boy?! You just said you were from a nice home!"
"Ah said my home was better'n this. Ah never said ah was rich"
"Whatever." Silence. "You're right, though."
Rogue walked in, shut the door behind her, and sat down on the hardwood floor near his bed. "About being a rich boy?"
"No! About why I'm not asleep." Her sudden closeness made him nervous and slightly exited, despite his dim recollection of what her powers were. "Why...why'd you close the door?"
She shrugged. "Don't wanna wake up the others."
"Oh." He nodded, as if that was what he suspected all along.
"So care to tell me why ya can't sleep?"
He grimaced and crossed his arms across his chest, hugging himself. "It's embarrassing."
"Ah won't tell anyone else."
He sighed heavily, still staring at the ceiling. "I'm afraid."
"To tell me?"
"No! The reason I can't go to sleep is because I'm afraid."
"Oh." A pause. "Why?"
He closed his eyes. "The shadows. Things can hide in them."
"' I am half sick of shadows, said the Lady of Shalott,'" Rogue murmured, a smile creeping into her voice.
"Huh?"
"Nothin'. Ya don't need to be afraid, Pietro."
"I know that! I just am." He rolled over on his side and propped his head up on his hand, watching her. "What do you think of that?"
"It's weird," she answered. "Ah wonder why you're afraid of that."
"You got me. It's just always been this way."
Rogue cocked her head and stared into his eyes, silently thinking. Finally, she said, "Ya know, ah'm in the room next to yours."
"Seriously?" He really didn't get how that connected to the rest of the conversation, but he was too busy noticing how her eyes glittered in the dark to mention it.
"Yeah. My bed's even right next to yours, on the other side of the wall."
"Oh."
"Maybe...maybe it'll be easier for ya to forget 'bout the shadows if ya know ah'm there. If anything were to jump out at ya, you'd only have to holler for me to come help you."
He considered this. "That might actually help. Thanks."
"Good." She got up and brushed the dust off her bare legs. "Ah'm goin' back to sleep. Ah really just got up for some water." As she opened the door, she turned back and whispered, "Welcome to the Brotherhood, Pietro. Sorry ah didn't say that earlier."
"It's okay."
She nodded and left the room, softly closing the door behind her.
Pietro rolled over and pressed his ear to the wall that separated his bed from hers. After a few seconds he heard Rogue's door open and close, and her bedsprings squeak as she climbed in. Stillness. Then, loudly and clearly, she knocked on the wall. He grinned and knocked back. Without warning he fell into the most peaceful sleep he'd had in years.
***
The weeks passed fast and Pietro adjusted to life in Bayville and the Brotherhood House. He fell into an uneasy companionship with Todd, Fred, and even Lance. But it was Rogue who was his real friend, his best friend, though he never described it as such. They sat together after school and talked for hours. Every time one of them left the other's room, Fred snorted and leered, Todd laughed knowingly (or so he thought), Lance raised an eyebrow, or Mystique glared disapprovingly. There was always someone there, watching and waiting, when they hung out together. But at night, no one else knew when suddenly one would knock on the adjoining wall. The other always knocked back without fail, becoming a trust they never spoke of again. Pietro slept soundly every night.
Then Rogue joined the X-Men. The late night knocking stopped.
The entire Brotherhood felt betrayed, and for a long time the main source of conversation between them was the abandonment. Pietro joined in on the Rogue-bashing just as vigorously as the others, but whereas the others were angry, he was just hurt. The night terror returned with a vengeance.
***End Flashback***
One morning, just before dawn, the dream came, and all at once everything was explained.
A night so long ago, serene and warm. Pietro lay on a straw mattress under the stars, surrounded by other people. He couldn't see their faces, but he knew them. He'd awakened and was patiently awaiting sleep to wash over him again like a gentle wave, cool and mysterious. He was not frightened, despite being so young, not even four years old. Then the shadows shifted and he was grabbed from his pallet and lifted into the air, higher than high, and he screamed piercingly. His adopted family, one of the last small bands of gypsies, started up and cried out to him in a language he recognized but no longer remembered. His twin sister waved her arms and shrieked; he couldn't even recall her name. It was no use. He clung to the cold, taciturn abductor and sobbed.
Pietro woke up with a start. As the tears rolled down his cheeks, he stared up at the ceiling until his alarm clock rang.
***
"Wait for me. I just have to go to my locker," Pietro called to the rest of the Brotherhood, which now included Tabitha, as they ran out the exit after school. In a flash he spun the combination and opened it, taking out his history book and putting away the novel he was supposed to be reading in English.
"Why do ya hang out with them? You're smarter'n they are."
He turned around; Rogue stood in front of him, questioningly. Nodding in the direction of Kitty and Evan as they left the hall, he retorted:
"Why do you hang out with them? You're wiser than they are."
A small smile ghosted her face. Then Scott Summers walked down the hall. Quickly, she turned away to face him, as if she weren't just speaking with the enemy. Scott was searching for someone and, noticing Rogue, smiled and raised his hand to her in a wave. Then he found the flash of red hair out in the quad and raced out the door after Jean.
Rogue's face fell so fast that it made Pietro feel worse than when she'd been staring after the X-Geek. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Aren't you sick of shadows, Rogue?" he said softly into her ear.
She turned back to him. His brow was furrowed and there were rings under his sad eyes, signaling his lack of proper sleep. All of a sudden a sort of warmth for him flooded her body.
"Yeah. Ah really am." She smiled again, wider, and reached up to touch his hand that still rested on her shoulder. He grinned back.
Then Tabitha loomed in the doorway of the school entrance. She frowned at the pair, who were still gazing at each other in silence.
"Silver, Lance said to hurry the hell up," she shouted icily.
Startled, they jumped apart. Pietro looked at Rogue, shrugged, and said, "He's my ride. I've got to go."
She nodded. "See ya." He sped out the door ahead of Tabitha, who glowered at the other girl as she left.
Rogue watched him go.
***
That night Pietro stared into the darkness as always; learning the reason behind his fear had done nothing to lessen it. Then, clear as day, came the knock. It was on the wrong wall, the one that faced the outside of the house, but he'd have recognized it anywhere.
He crawled out of bed and knocked back. Looking out the window, he watched as Rogue climbed down from the rain gutter's down pipe and ran across the yard. She stopped, solemnly brought her gloved hand to her lips, and gestured towards him, not really blowing him the kiss, more like tossing it. Then she jumped the fence and was gone.
Pietro climbed back in bed and immediately fell into a peaceful sleep.
THE END
***
Author's Note: What do you think?? Should I continue writing fics?? Am I wasting my time?? Let me know!! I want at least 10 reviews before I post another story.